Centum Learning: Where All Are Striving For A Better World
Centum Learning keeps its eyes on the sky and expects to be part of India’s drive to skilling 500 million people by 2022. The Bharti Group company enriches lives through itsmyriad training initiatives.
The company focuses on four key areas, livelihood skilling, skills for schools and colleges, CSR partnerships and corporate training solutions. Empowered with the legacy of the Bharti group and experience of over 12 years in the space of talent development and management, Centum Learning has been able to provide customised end-to-end training solutions to more than 350 corporates globally.
The company’s work helps millions of people across India and Africa earn a livelihood and lead a respectable life. Centum Learning CEO, Sanjay Bahl, asserts that the organisational vision is a better world, which its employees share and contribute eagerly towards.
Centum Learning began its journey in 2006 with just over a hundred employees and a handful of clients. Today it is among the top players in the training and skill development space. Bahl says since people are the company’s “single-most important asset”, its success is entirely due to the “passion and commitment” they bring to the workplace.
THE WORK CULTURE
“We have also, therefore, consciously built a people-centric culture that actively promotes employee participation, which I believe, will help us scale up our capabilities, achieve our business results and move ahead as one strong, cohesive force,” says Bahl.
Centum’s work culture is a mix of core values, driven by dedicated practices and the diligence of the individuals working for it. Centum Learning prides itself on being a direct connection between a satisfied workforce and an organisation’s long-term success.
What really sets the company apart is its belief in organisational culture, which plays a key role in making it a great place to work in. “We have, therefore, invested in a strong value system at Centum Learning,” says Bahl. “With open lines of communication and mutual trust, we have attempted to build a strong relationship with our employees and this we believe, is what makes us such a great place to work in,” says he.
Bahl says, “My ideal company is one where an employee is not required to make a trade-off between personal and professional goals and the nature of work is such that it also ensures personal fulfilment. It is a place where the people you work with respect one another - there is of course, a fair amount of healthy disagreement, which I believe, is extremely important as it serves as a catalyst for improved solutions, innovation and overall progress. Lastly, policies and communication are invariably consistent and there is no room for partiality or nepotism.”
Employee testimonial
Social transformation is the people philosophy of the group. “We encourage our employees to play a meaningful role for the company by sharing their suggestions and feedback for all our strategic initiatives. In fact, I am personally involved in evaluating all the ideas and suggestions that I receive from them. Thus, I can say with complete conviction that our employees are our equal partners in our growth journey,” says Bahl.
Centum’s employee retention rate is an average of three years. An employee testimonial emerges from the fact that almost 70 per cent of the hiring in the company happens through employee referrals. “A good many of our ex-employees re-join the group from time to time,” says Bahl.
Centum Learning employees do not just recommend the organisation as a good place to work in to prospective colleagues, a sizeable part of the company’s business comes in through employee referrals too. If that is not a shining example of goodwill within the workforce – what is?
